Wondering...

Back when I was young, maybe about college age, I used to ask myself a question. Do governments reach a final crisis because an idiot is in charge (I was thinking of Louis XVI and Nicholas II)? Or does a crisis somehow generate an idiotic leadership? I'm not sure I have an answer. But looking at the US government, I see what might be called the fatal combination: huge problems and idiots in power. It isn't simply the Republican House. The Senate isn't doing especially well, and Obama seems to have no idea how serious the problems he is facing really are, and Supreme Court is obviously overfull of fools.

Maybe the answer is years of bad decisions, which make the government increasingly rigid and unable to deal with crisis, combined with a system that becomes increasingly crisis-prone.

I posted this over on facebook and a commenter pointed to Gorbachev, who did not seem to be an idiot, but the USSR collapsed on his watch. Maybe the crisis in the USSR had gotten so bad that it could not be fixed, or maybe a final crisis does not require an idiot.

Obama is clearly not an idiot. But he can't seem to understand the problems he faces. Even with the Republican House, there is much he could have done and can still do. He has certainly done his best to push back the rights of citizens, including their right to not be murdered by the government.